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Saturday, December 09, 2006

Pg. 69: "The Blind Side"

Michael Lewis may be the only participant in the "page 69 test" series against whom I've played baseball. That is, if my memory and my inferences about his biography--gleaned from reading an excerpt from his book, Coach: Lessons on the Game--are correct, our eighth-grade baseball teams faced off two or three times.

I can imagine better places to start than page 69--generally page 1 isn't a bad alternative-but there are many worse. And the reader saves himself the trouble of reading 68 pages. (The reader who finds this thought appealing would do well to start on page 293.)

Thanks to Michael for the input. (Brevity is the soul of wit, said the man.)

Here is page one from The Blind Side:

From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bone is closer to four seconds than to five. One Mississippi: The quarterback of the Washington Redskins, Joe Theismann, turns and hands the ball to running back John Riggins. He watches Riggins run two steps forward, turn, and flip the ball back to him. It’s what most people know as a “flea-flicker,” but the Redskins call it a “throw back special.” Two Mississippi: Theismann searches for a receiver but instead sees Harry Carson coming straight at him. It’s a running down—the start of the second quarter, first and 10 at midfield, with the score tied 7–7—and the New York Giants’ linebacker has been so completely suckered by the fake that he’s deep in the Redskins’ backfield. Carson thinks he’s come to tackle Riggins but Riggins is long gone, so Carson just keeps running, toward Theismann. Three Mississippi: Carson now sees that Theismann has the ball. Theismann notices Carson coming straight at him, and so he has time to avoid him. He steps up and to the side and Carson flies right on by and out of the play. The play is now 3.5 seconds old. Until this moment it has been defined by what the quarterback can see. Now it—and he—is at the mercy of what he can’t see.

You don’t think of fear as a factor in professional football. You assume that the sort of people who make it to the NFL are immune to the emotion.

Click here to read an adapted essay from The Blind Side, and here for a different excerpt.

The book has enjoyed fine reviews, most recently from Jacob Weisberg in Slate.

If football isn't your game but you enjoy baseball--or trying to understand the valuation and compensation of talent--check out Lewis' Moneyball. After reading it, you'll never listen to Joe Morgan the same way again.